Crazy UV Map

# 1 05-02-2013 , 12:26 AM

Maya Animation Newb
Join Date: Jan 2013

Posts: 9

Hi All -
Not sure if I can put this in this area but... Here goes!

I made a sort of simplified humanoid character and I tried to UV unwrap it. This is only maybe the second time I've done this with Maya (and I'm definitely no expert on the logistics of UVs... so I tried to follow the simple UV pattern shown here: https://www.screencast.com/users/blenderwho/folders/Jing/media/b8f6de94-9ef0-48e2-be7b-b0f4c81ce658), and when I cut the edges and unfolded it, it gave me some crazy weird UVs - see the picture here:

user added image

There are a bunch of really weird small boxes and everything is fragmented into different areas.

I've tried deleting history, and I've tried to delete the UV maps or start a new one from the UV texture editor menu, but that didn't do anything, and I found I couldn't start with a blank slate or anything.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Could it be something on the model itself or maybe I am just cutting it wrong? what could cause the UVs to fracture like that, and how can I clear the UV slate, so to speak?

THANK YOU!!!

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# 2 05-02-2013 , 01:43 AM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

That's not wrong per se... although you have a lot of work to clean it up to be something usable.

You can create new UVs at any time by selecting your object and doing a different type of UV projection. I would recommend UVing just one part of your model at a time, otherwise it won't be manageable. Is it all one mesh? Typically the parts are different objects and you can UV one at a time. Hope that makes sense.

-stwert

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# 3 05-02-2013 , 01:45 AM

Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

Your video is for blender. The image I am seeing for your uv map appears to be an automatic unwrap which breaks things into lots of little uv islands like that.

You might want to find a tutorial on using maya's uv unwrap tools. The blender tutorial does show the proper places to cut the uv's. You just need to do a couple selections and projections that are not shown in that blender vid.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 4 05-02-2013 , 02:13 AM

Maya Animation Newb
Join Date: Jan 2013

Posts: 9

Thanks for the reply guys!

You can create new UVs at any time by selecting your object and doing a different type of UV projection. I would recommend UVing just one part of your model at a time, otherwise it won't be manageable. Is it all one mesh? Typically the parts are different objects and you can UV one at a time. Hope that makes sense.

Originally Posted by stwert

It is currently all one object. Again, I wasn't sure how to go about this because I had been watching a tutorial (for maya) where the person blocked out a character and then started blocking out the arms of the fabric all on the same model. Unfortunately, he didn't upload the rest of it past the blocking stage, so I proceed on my own. I don't plan on anything to really move on the character interms of clothing, except the hat and the cape, so I kept it on one object. I can select them separately though (ie, if I select faces on the armlet and click shift+. it will select all the faces but stop at the end of the armlet. Same goes for the shoes, laces on the shoes, cape area, arms, and hat. Should I remove all these pieces into entire separate objects?

Also @ctbram - I was aware it was for blender, blender is a program I had used before and I had just been looking for a simple way to cut a human figure. I have trouble wrapping my head around the UV stuff, so I just wanted to kind of find out where one would even place seams on a human character.

Thanks both of you!

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# 5 05-02-2013 , 02:21 AM

Maya Animation Newb
Join Date: Jan 2013

Posts: 9

Oh man wait, I think I figured it out! stwert, you'd mention using a different UV projection method and I guess mine must have been set on the wrong kind of projection, when I selected planar, it seems to have fixed it.

Using the same UV edges, Now my UVs look like this:
user added image

Which is maybe still messy right? I think it might be still usable, but nowhere near as confusing as that last cut. *phew!*

Thanks again guys!

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# 6 05-02-2013 , 03:58 AM

Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

The new uv pass looks much cleaner.

and yes that is what I had said that you need to use a different projection method and make a couple projection passes. Your first layout looks like you tried automatic projections which will generally always create lots of little uv islands like you got in the first post.

But you are getting closer. The last shot looks much better.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 05-02-2013 at 04:02 AM.

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# 7 05-02-2013 , 06:02 AM

Maya Animation Newb
Join Date: Jan 2013

Posts: 9

Sorry to follow up with a somewhat irrelevant topic, but I had two more questions regarding this model -

Firstly, as stwert had mentioned about about having the cloths on the same mesh, I was wondering what the approach is for this? I don't think anything but the hat and cape will really move, so it's okay to keep this on that same object, right?

Secondly - I am using this plain model as a base. I intend to create three characters from this, all pretty much the same except with different facial features and materials and stuff. Do you think I should rig up a skeleton first before I split up the file make the faces and hair of the characters? Would I be able to work on sculpting with an already rigged model?

Sorry if these are really newbish questions, and thanks again everyone for your input!

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Crazy UV Map

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